Pour one out
by actuallyasweetpotato
Summary: The stranger's long fingers curl around the empty glass, almost protectively. "I lost my husband today," the stranger tells him, his smile painful and paper thin. It doesn't reach his eyes. "I don't know how I'm gonna move on." Oh. Shit. (Crossposted from Ao3)


This is on Ao3 under the same title and username! Please check it out there for more in depth author's notes and summaries :D

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It's an early hour, and there's one last patron at the seedy bar, hunched over his drink. Kaito finishes polishing the glass in hand and sets it down under the counter. "Sorry, but we're about to close up shop, do you have someone to pick you up?"

Puffy and swollen eyes open to look at him blearily. The gaze slides down to his empty glass, then back up to Kaito.

"I said," Kaito says, enunciating each word clearly, just in case the man was too drunk to understand, "do you have anyone to pick you up?"

The stranger's long fingers curl around the empty glass, almost protectively. "I lost my husband today," the stranger tells him, his smile painful and paper thin. It doesn't reach his eyes "I don't know how I'm gonna move on."

Oh. Shit.

Kaito drags a chair over to the other side of the counter and takes a seat opposite of the stranger. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

The stranger sighs, clinks his nails on the glass, twists his ring, and sighs again.

"Should we start with something easier? Like your name?" Kaito doesn't mention it's partially in case this stranger leaves without paying.

"Oikawa Tooru" The stranger- Oikawa's eyebrows come together and he frowns, as if recalling something.

"Good, good-"

"You know," Oikawa interrupts, slurring slightly, "we used to argue about that for the longest time- who was gonna take whose last name, if we were gonna take names at all. But I guess that doesn't really matter now, does it?" He barks out a short laugh, and it's off, more like a sob than anything.

Kaito winces at the sound.

Oikawa holds his hand up to the light, admiring how the ring shone and glimmered on his finger.

"Funny, how you think you're gonna spend the rest of your life with the same person by your side, and then the world just takes them from you." Oikawa's voice is whimsically soft, and it doesn't sound like he's drunk at all, if it weren't for the way he's slumped on the counter and the knowledge of the massive tab Kaito knows he has.

Kaito just nods. He knows that empty words of support are just that- empty.

The stranger continues, hands visibly tightening around the glass. "I should've cherished the time we had together more- I should've told him how I felt, all the way back in high school, middle school-" Oikawa's voice choked off in a wet sob, but he continues in a hoarse whisper. "But I didn't. I was scared. I was stupid. I couldn't even call him by his real name, it was always Iwa-chan this, Iwa-chan that, but I- I never really could- and now he's gone."

Oikawa sniffles loudly. He picks up the glass and holds it out to Kaito, clearly asking for more drink. Kaito sighs, and obliges.

The clink of ice is loud in the empty bar as Oikawa takes a long swig. He sets the glass down, and already the effects of alcohol are catching up with him. His flush is more pronounced than ever, and he sways a bit in his seat, sinking lower and lower until his head rests completely on the counter.

Suddenly, his left hand snaps ups and points off to the side. Kaito's not sure what to make of it, but Oikawa thickly says, "We were so close we could just tell what the other was thinking with- _hic_\- with just a look." His arm drops, lifeless, and Oikawa sniffles loudly. He polishes off the rest of his drink and lays his head down in his arms.

Kaito's just about to shake him awake and call a taxi when the door bursts open suddenly, the bell hanging above it jangling violently instead of pleasantly tinkling.

Kaito's head snaps up, ready to tell the newcomer that the bar is already closed, but Oikawa beats him to it, a mumbled "Iwa-chaaaaan" interrupting Kaito's train of thought.

This? This is the mysterious, supposedly dead husband?

Oikawa's "Iwa-chan" seems to be pretty pissed, judging by the vein popping out on his head. "You!" He strides over to where Oikawa was still slumped on the bar, now giggling tipsily and making grabby hands at him. "I don't even know where to start! First, you get in the wrong car while we're bar hopping, and you're too drunk to even _call_\- _mmph!_"

One of Oikawa's hands smacks him full on the face as Oikawa barely manages to stumble out of his chair to drape himself over his husband in a gangly hug, uncoordinated limbs flying everywhere. Kaito catches the gleam of a matching ring on "Iwa-chan's" hand as he reaches up to steady Oikawa to prevent both of them from crashing to the floor.

"So…" Kaito cuts in, "I take it that you're 'Iwa-chan'? Oikawa's husband?"

Iwa-chan groans at that. "My name's Iwaizumi Hajime." He then turns to his husband, who was currently trying to nuzzle into Iwaizumi's neck, and shakes him. "I told you to stop calling me that, Trashykawa!"

"So mean..."

"Mean?! Do you even know how worried we are? We've been looking in every single bar in the city ever since we split!" Iwaizumi shakes him once more, for good measure, then turns his attention to Kaito. "I'm really sorry you had to deal with him, he probably ran his mouth off about something dumb."

Kaito hums, not really knowing how to respond to that. _No, he just seemed "distraught and I thought his husband had died_, doesn't seem like the right answer.

"Anyway," Iwaizumi continues, carefully leaning a dopily grinning Oikawa against his side and rummaging in his pockets "I bet he didn't pay either, the asshole."

Kaito nods, and Iwaizumi hands over a credit card. Kaito quickly runs it through the register and gives it back, hovering nearby in case Oikawa loses his balance while Iwaizumi puts away his card.

"I loooooove you," Oikawa slurs, feeling all over Iwaizumi's face and running his hands through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah."

"More- _hic_\- than aliens"

"Do you really mean that, though?"

"Mmmmm…" Oikawa seems to put a lot of thought into it, his eyebrows furrowing and bottom lip jutting out. "Mmmmmaybe not."

"Thought so."

"But!" Oikawa shouts in drunken bravado, suddenly straightening up. "You guys are equal. Iwa-chan and- _hic_\- aliens! Maybe Iwa-chan is an alien." Oikawa giggles and sways on his feet.

Iwaizumi pinches the bridge of his nose then readjusts his grip on Oikawa. "Alright, let's get you home." He nods in Kaito's direction, a thanks, and shuffles Oikawa out of the shop.

He needs to lock up anyway, so Kaito watches them drive off through the door. A taxi pulls up and two guys spill out- one pink haired and another curly haired- to help Iwaizumi detach Oikawa's octopus-like grip, but failing. They end up shoving both Iwaizumi and Oikawa into the backseat, and Kaito watches the taxi pull away from the curb, kicking up dirt and stirring the sidewalk plants.


End file.
